The production team announced a new twist:
"Audience Choice Challenge."
Fans voted live.
The top vote?
> "Tell a personal story on camera. Raw. No script. One take."
Most contestants panicked.
Some opted out.
Lina didn't flinch.
She sat under the spotlight with only one question in her mind:
Which version of the truth do they deserve?
---
The camera rolled.
She didn't look at it. Not at first.
She looked down.
Then up.
And said—
"I once shared a room with ten other girls. We had two blankets, three buckets, and dreams we weren't allowed to name."
Pause.
"One of them was my friend. Or so I thought. I helped her pass an exam. She helped me get expelled."
She laughed once. Low.
"And now she's trying to reclaim the stage I bled for."
Another pause.
"But I'm not here for revenge."
She leaned forward.
"I'm here to prove I was always the one they should've feared."
---
The video didn't just trend.
It detonated.
Netizens went wild.
> "She's not cold—she's forged."
"THIS is the main character energy."
"No more sympathy. Give her a throne."
---
Later that evening, Kael called her again.
Only this time, he didn't ask how she was.
He said:
"Dinner. Now. No excuses."
She was too tired to argue.
Too curious not to go.
---
The restaurant was empty.
Private. High-end. Moonlit.
He was waiting.
"Are you trying to date me or interrogate me?" she asked dryly as she sat down.
Kael raised a brow. "Can't it be both?"
She blinked. "What?"
He didn't smile, but there was something softer in his voice.
"I've seen a hundred women wear ambition like perfume. But you—" He looked at her, sharp and still. "—you bleed it. And yet, you still say 'thank you' to the camera crew."
Lina stared at him.
And for once, let herself ask:
"Why me?"
Kael leaned in.
"Because you remind me of someone I failed to save."
---
Meanwhile, in a dim apartment across the city, Mira stared at the screen.
Her own fan count had dropped.
The video of Lina's story had eclipsed every attempt she'd made to trend.
She closed her laptop.
Walked to the mirror.
And drew a red "X" across her reflection.
"This isn't over."